A London trainee GP has been beaten and withheld hostage by her family who are forcibly trying to marry her to a stranger in Bangladesh.

Dr Humayra Abedin, who has remained a prisoner since August by her parents, is believed to have been gagged, tied and violently struck to make her submit to her parents’ wishes.

The 33-year-old had trained as a doctor in Bangladesh and arrived in England to pursue her studies at Leeds University, reports the Independent.

Dr. Abedin, who had made East London her home while working in hospitals since 2002, is said to have developed a close bond with a Hindu Bangladeshi man – an act vehemently opposed by her Muslim family.

She had been baited to fly to Dhaka on the pretext of her mother’s illness where the family has ignored orders from the Bangladeshi high court to release their girl.

The daughter of a retired businessman and a housewife has been held captive since August 5 while being denied any contact with friends or attorneys though she managed to send an email to a close pal describing her plight.

Anne-Marie Hutchinson, the barrister from Renaissance Chambers acting for Dr Abedin, said: There are real concerns for the safety of this young woman. These proceedings will not end until she is produced.

If we are too late and she has been married, it [the Forced Marriage Act] will help us to bring nullity proceedings for her.

One very popular online myth and urban legend is that of Islam being the fastest growing religion in the world. I have spent some time examining the sources, especially those shown by Islamic groups and websites to prove the claim. However, my conclusions using their own and independently verifiable sources is something very different to this claim.

With Islam it seems to be – if you repeat a lie enough times it will be believed.

Another notable examples of this:

Neil Armstrong – first man to walk on the moon.

A few years ago some Muslims wishing to gain converts created another story for proselytization purposes. One of them includes Neil Armstrong. The myth as propagated by scores of Islamic websites is that while on the moon Neil and others heard the Islamic call to prayer. While visiting Egypt he again heard this same call to prayer and immediately converted to Islam saying that it was the same call to prayer he heard on the moon. (Another myth goes that he also saw the Qur’an floating around on the moon).

To back up this ‘creative truth’ Muslims have also invented fake transcripts and countless other documents including fake references to Neil’s biography. However, the facts of the matter according to Neil Armstrong himself:

1) He did not hear the call to prayer on the moon

2) He did not convert to Islam

He makes reference to this countless times and the US State Department also released a memo to embassies worldwide informing them that Neil was not interested in hosting or being a guest to Islamic events and that he has not nor has intentions of converting to Islam.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. I found a very good article explaining why Islam is not the fastest growing religion in the world and I will copy from it.
(www.FastestGrowingReligion.tk)

Conclusion

From the statistics available we can cleary see that the fastest growing religion in the world in real terms is Christianity. Where Islam gains 23 Million new adherents annually, Christianity gained 30 Million new adherents in that same period. Thus, Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world.

In terms of the question of gaining the most religions by conversions, again that title goes to Christianity. By converisons from other religions, Christianity tends to be the most effective by a long shot with over 2 Million conversions followed by the 800,000 conversions recorded by Islam in that period.

Another interesting part of the article is the systematic destruction of some fake sources used by Muslims to claim that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.

Additional Information – Dispelling the Myths

Claims:

1. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. FALSE

Islam is neither the fastest growing religion in the world by precentage growth or real person growth.

2. Buddhism is the fastest growing religion in the world. FALSE
Although Buddhism is emerging in the Western world it is not the fastest growing religion in the world.

3. The world is converting to Islam faster than any other religion. FALSE

In terms of conversions Islam performs very poorly. The growth of Islam is attributed to higher birth rates in areas where it is dominant.

4. Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world. TRUE

By real term growth, Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world.

Misleading Sources Explained

Currently, many Muslim websites spread the claim that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. These websites usually provide no explanation to these claims or occasioanlly provide loose and unveriifiable media quotes.

This source provides no statistical evidence to the claim that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. The only allusion to the claim is “The second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, Islam is also the fastest-growing religion.” However, the data proves this claim to be wrong and as a media quote it holds no evidential weight.

2. ABC NEWS Quote

As the quote and citation appears on various sites: “Already more than a billion-people strong, Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion”. [ABCNEWS, Abcnews.com]

No such quote exists today on the abcnews.com website.

3. 60 Minutes Quote

As the quote appears and is cited: “The Religion of Islam is growing faster than any other religion in the world.” [MIKE WALLACE, 60 MINUTES]

No evidence is provided to support the claim and it is merely a media quote. Again, no reason for this quote to be taken seriously in determining the fastest growing religion.

4. Islamicweb.com estimated that in 2000 there would be 1.9Billion Muslims in the world

False claims like this are one of the reasons why Islam is believed to be the fastest growing religion in the world. The facts of the matter is that the most liberal estimated of the amount of Muslims in 2000 was 1.1-1.2 Billion. Today the world population of Muslims is only at 1.3 Billion.

Although the article is named and used to claim that Islam is the fastest growing religion in Australia, the article itself paints no such picture. The article states that, “Today, Islam is one of the fastest growing faiths in Australia” and makes no claim to it being the fastest growing religion in Australia.Although statistics are provided they do not lead to the conclusion that Islam is the fastest growing religion in Australia as the title claims.

Lawmakers in Iran are considering a proposal to make the death penalty automatic for those who leave the Muslim faith.

Abe Ghafari of Iranian Christians International, Inc. (ICI) was at least a little surprised to learn the news. “Before, it was like an option that an Islamic judge could decide to use or not to use — but now it will become an automatic thing. And from the language of the legislation, it seems like something that cannot be appealed,” Ghafari contends.

The death penalty would primarily apply to those who convert to the Christian faith. “There are large numbers of conversions from Islam, maybe even in the tens of thousands every year, and this is causing concern in the Islamic circles in Iran,” Ghafari explains.

People who use the Internet to convert people away from the Muslim faith will also be subject to the death penalty. Ghafari was asked if this information shocked him. “Yes, it does a bit because we do know that under Islamic law of Iran, there was always this option of issuing death penalties for any conversions from Islam. So this was already available, but it looks like they just want to escalate persecution – making the death penalty almost automatic for anyone who converts from Islam,” Ghafari adds.

While Christians are the primary target, anyone converting to the Bahá’í faith will also face the death penalty. Ghafari sees trouble ahead, and is hopeful Christians everywhere will pray for the underground church in Iran.

Information on legislation provided by ICI about Iranian apostasy and the death penalty is available here.